A new 6-inch touch-screen based device dubbed the PRS-700. Aside from the touchscreen and the ability to annotate documents using a stylus and pop-up virtual keyboard, the main difference between the PRS-505 and PRS-700 is the addition of integrated LED lighting around the edge of the screen, which makes reading in low light conditions much easier. The new 10-ounce model can hold about 350 books in its internal memory and also features flash memory card expansion slots but crucially is still missing the Kindle’s wireless capabilities. That means instead of being able to wirelessly download content directly to the device (the Kindle has a built-in Sprint EVDO data module), Sony PRS-700 users still have to load books and other e-documents via a PC. Nevertheless, the new Sony Reader supports a broader range of e-book and document formats and comes with a new software package - eBook Library 2.5 - designed to make it easier to load Adobe PDF documents, Microsoft Word documents, BBeB files and other text file formats to the Reader. Sony is also promising to expand the selection of e-book titles available online and has redesigned the store to make it easier to use.

The Sony PRS-700 will be priced at $400 when it goes on sale at the end of the month - $100 more than the current Reader. Sony’s online bookstore currently offers about 50,000 titles while the Kindle store offers more than 180,000, including many bestsellers costing $10 each.

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